Titans still hungry after devouring Clackamas at home

Lane Titan Shelby Snook weighs her options amidst the gaggle of opponents between her and the hoop in Saturday’s game versus Clackamas.

After 11 straight road games, Lane women’s basketball team returned to their home court on Jan. 9 to face the Clackamas Cougars. Although the Titans seemed to have control the entire duration of the game, the team feels they could have performed better in their victory.

The Titans went into the game 1-0 having won their first conference game against the Clark Penguins 85-69 one week prior.

The Titans took the floor — many players wore matching headbands in similar fashion to the Karate Kid. Lane head coach Greg Sheley said before the game he wanted to play up-tempo and the lead quickly exchanged three times before Lane pushed their lead to two possessions.

At the end of the first quarter the Titans were up by nine points with a score of 24-15.

The Cougars rallied back to within four points with 7:04 left in the second quarter when they made back-to-back 3-pointers that put Clackamas up by two points.

Lane guard Gabby Heehn responded with a 3-pointer of her own to reclaim the lead and Lane guard Shelby Snook added two, pushing the Titans lead to three points.

A block by Lane forward Jordan Kimbrough led to a string of turnovers until Snook snapped down another two points prompting a Clackamas timeout with 3:40 left in the half and Lane up, 36-31.

Clackamas got as close as three points to tying the score after the timeout but Lane was able end the first half of the game with a 44-36 lead.

“I’m alright where we’re at,” Clackamas head coach Jim Martineau said. “We just didn’t do a very good job defending in transition.”

The Titans exploded out of the locker room. Lane guard/forward Mallory Shields had back-to-back steals that led to six points off breakaways and triggered a Clackamas timeout with 2:08 left in the third.

Lane outscored Clackamas 26-15 in the third quarter and had a 70-51 advantage going into the final quarter.

Strong defense kept scoring low but the Titans were able to achieve their largest lead in the fourth when Lane guard Jordan Rodriguez nailed a 3-pointer with 2:20 remaining.

Heehn intercepted a Clackamas pass and the Titans shot a couple of free throws before the Cougars conceded. The Titans were uncontested in the final seconds of their 83-62 win over Clackamas and go on to start the season 2-0 in conference play.

However, Sheley said his team hasn’t looked the same since the beginning of conference play. “We had a couple of good runs that gave us the separation that we needed so we’ll take it,” Sheley said of the victory.

Kimbrough said the Titans will return to practice with more of an emphasis on effort. “There were a lot of thing we could have done better,” Kimbrough said. “We’re better than this and we feel we’re kind of plateauing.” Kimbrough had 12 rebounds, six steals and three blocks for the night.

The Titan’s next game is Jan. 13 against the Southwestern Oregon Lakers at Titan Coliseum and set to tipoff at 5:30 p.m. Admission is three dollars and all Lane Community College student get in free by providing their L-number.